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Musa al-Gharbi (Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University) wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post on the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education. Al-Gharbi argues that the administration undermined its own efforts after Columbia University complied with its directives: “[I]t responded to Columbia’s show of weakness by turning the screws further [… and] ratcheted up demands on other universities as well.” This shows other universities that quick compliance is not rewarded, giving them little choice but to fight back. “And now that Harvard has chosen the path of resistance, other institutions will probably follow its lead.”

The Atlantic ran a story discussing how America is in a phase of “grandparenthood,” in which grandparents play a significant role in raising their grandchildren. The article featured research from Madonna Harrington Meyer (Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University), describing how some grandparents want to be involved in their grandchildren’s lives, but are attempting to set boundaries on that involvement. They may use strategies such as committing to help on certain days (“I’m a Wednesday grandma.”) or committing to “fun time.” However, boundary setting often fails, and grandparents take on a significant parenting workload. Harrington Meyer also describes how some grandparents delay retirement or take on debt to financially support their grandchildren.

Near the end of 2024, Walmart released a handbag similar to the luxury Hermès Birkin bag. Aarushi Bhandari (Assistant Professor of Sociology at Davidson College) and Parul Bhandari (Director of Studies in Sociology University of Cambridge) appeared on The Conversation Weekly podcast to discuss conspicuous consumption and the Birkin bag as a cultural symbol. “You need to have a record of spending tens of thousands of dollars even before you’re offered to buy one. But spending that money doesn’t automatically mean you get a bag,” Aarushi Bhandari explained. “You have to develop a relationship with a sales associate at a particular Hermès store and the sales associate really gets to decide, if there’s availability, whether or not you get offered a bag.” Parul Bhandari described how owning a Birkin bag is a “ticket of entry into the global elite” and–for many women–a way to display their husband’s affection: “ Not only from the point of view of money, because obviously this bag is extremely expensive, but also because it is difficult to procure.” The bag becomes a symbol of both wealth and effort within a marriage. Aarushi Bhandari became fascinated with responses to the “Wirkin” (Walmart Birkin) bag. Many online commenters critiqued spending thousands on handbags and praised the Wirkin as an accessible alternative. Bhandari sees this as an example of anti-elitism.

The New York Times ran a story on how most people go to civil court (for example, in family law, housing, or debt cases) without legal representation. “Courts were not designed for people,” Rebecca Sandefur (Professor of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University) commented. “The processes that you have to navigate to use [the court system] were implemented for a very narrow part of the population that invented them and speaks in Latin and knows what pleading is.” The article cited Sandefur’s research showing that having a lawyer increases odds of success in civil court and that many people with problems they could address in court often don’t make use of the legal system.

“In every relationship, there’s one person who loads the dishwasher like a Scandinavian architect, and one who loads it like a raccoon on meth.” In an article for the Atlantic, Ellen Cushing explores this common sentiment and why there are so many conflicts over how to properly load the dishwasher. Michelle Janning (Professor of Sociology at Whitman College) commented that “our homes and our home possessions and what meaning we ascribe to them is one of the most personal things we can experience.” Our homes are a sacred place and a representation of ourselves–this extends to the technologies within our homes. “The strong opinions associated with how to [load the dishwasher] could be people trying to retain some semblance of control in a world where technological devices are doing things so much for us,” Janning commented. “I do wonder if there’s a little bit of fear of losing the humanity associated with our domestic lives.”

The New York Times ran a story on shifts in the residential construction industry since the Great Recession. Contracting work has become a “race-to-the-bottom,” with many contractors competing on price by increasingly relying on subcontractors or dodging expenses by misclassifying full-time employees as independent contractors. “There’s always been subcontracting in the construction industry, but it was largely done to licensed trades,” Tom Juravich (Professor of Sociology at University of Massachusetts – Amherst) explained. “The general contractor hired most of the workers directly, and the only things that weren’t done by the G.C. were electrical, plumbing and so on. But as this new model emerged, what they began to do was spin off much of the work.” This shift preceded the industry’s reliance on labor from undocumented immigrants. A study by Juravich and colleagues found that “the entrance of immigrants did not result in the deterioration of jobs in residential construction. Rather, working conditions and pay became so bad that subcontractors faced continual labor shortages.”

Christian Smith’s (Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame) new book, Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America, explores the various cultural changes that have made organized religion less relevant in many people’s lives. “We almost always use the word ‘decline’ when we talk about if things aren’t going well for religion,” Smith explained. “And decline is a good word. But what it’s descriptive of is organizational matters and individual religiousness. Organizations can have decline in membership or adherence, attendance, financial giving. That’s decline — it’s measurable.” Instead, Smith describes traditional organized religion as “culturally obsolete” (meaning that religion can be useful and important for some people, but has lost relevance for a large portion of Americans). This story was covered by the Religion News Service, and picked up by The Salt Lake Tribune. 

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, several experts across scholarly disciplines weighed in on a key question following the presidential election: why did Trump win a Republican-record setting 46% of the Hispanic vote, despite his xenophobic and racist comments about migrant and minority groups? Paul Starr (Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton) commented that “Hispanics are part of the swing vote of the American racial order, not just electorally but in their identification with the white mainstream.” In a recent paper, Starr and colleagues found that only about 45% of Hispanic people identify as “people of color.” Nancy Foner (Professor of Sociology at Hunter College) commented that long-time U.S. residents may resent new asylum seekers: “In cities like New York, where the new arrivals were bused in large numbers, some Hispanics resented the added burdens on the city, as well as on institutions like schools in their own communities, to provide housing and other services to the newest arrivals.” Starr and Foner also highlighted that Trump appealed to some Hispanic voters on the basis of conservative cultural values (particularly related to gender).

GQ ran an article about luxury skiing and the surge in private ski clubs for the ultra-wealthy. The article references Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West, a book by Justin Farrell (Professor of Sociology at the Yale School of the Environment). Farrell examines how the ultra-wealthy buy up land in Western states and accrue wealth while emulating the rural working poor. “If you’re there, you see it very clearly,” said Farrell. “The way that this culture is romanticized but not supported.”

Arlie Russell Hochschild (Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California – Berkeley) appeared on Nonviolence Radio, a podcast by the Metta Center for Nonviolence, to discuss how emotions shape political identity and polarization. Hochschild argues that, listening to the emotional narratives of the political right, we can identify a four step anti-shaming ritual that Trump provides: 1) Trump says something transgressive, 2) Democrats shame him for the transgressive statement, 3) Trump becomes a victim and relates to his followers: “Isn’t that familiar? Like they’re beating up on you, too. Doesn’t it feel terrible to be shamed like that and put down and victimized? And I am taking the shame from you, off of your shoulders, and taking it upon myself. I’m the victim here. I’m the fall guy on your behalf,” and 4) there is a roar back from Trump’s followers. Hochschild notes that Democrats focus on steps one and two (the shaming and blaming cycle), while Republicans are focused on steps three and four (getting retribution for a perceived injury).

Charlie Eaton (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California-Merced) wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times discussing how many universities–fearing retribution or sanction–have attempted to appease the Trump administration (particularly by altering or removing DEI initiatives, expelling or suspending student activists, or placing entire departments under review). Eaton argues that “top universities must instead exercise the financial independence afforded by their endowments, which are commonly valued in the tens of billions. Their leaders should collectively declare they will not suppress lawful free speech, diversity programs or campus research to appease any president.” Eaton notes that universities often limit endowment spending to ensure future generations of students have comparable resources, but argues that “in this climate, intergenerational equity is little more than a fallacy. If those universities fail to defend free speech and scientific research now, future generations could lose their treasures to creeping authoritarianism.”

Stephen de Weger (Lecturer in the Center for Justice at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia) recently gave a webinar sponsored by the Archdioceses of St. Paul and Minneapolis on the topic of clergy sexual misconduct with adults. “Since 2002, all bishops in the United States have known exactly how to address an allegation if a cleric sexually abuses a child. It’s black and white,” de Weger said. “But the manner in which allegations of sexual misconduct of adults are handled looks nothing like those clear procedures. Bishops everywhere find themselves vexed — and frequently — about exactly how they should handle allegations of clergy sexual misconduct involving adults, and generally they just want to push them aside.” This story was covered by OSV News.

Los Angeles Sentinel ran a feature on Karida L. Brown’s (Professor of Sociology at Emory College) forthcoming book, The Battle for the Black Mind. The book examines the historical struggle to control the education of African Americans in the United States, questioning: What is a ‘colored’ school? “This book looks at a system that attempted to oppress and subjugate Black minds that were designed not for us, not by us, and not about us,” Brown explains. “But the part I love the most is [that] I interrogate that, despite all this, what did Black teachers and parents do? What did Black youth do to organize, dream, and imagine futures where they could see themselves? How did they use education as a vehicle for economic and social mobility? This book is a history, a road map, and a call to action because our education system is again under attack.”

Cristobal Young (Associate Professor of Sociology at Cornell University) and Erin Cumberworth (Sociology Researcher at Cornell University) recently published a new book, Multiverse Analysis: Computational Methods for Robust Results, that explores how multiverse analyses can lead to more robust empirical research. “ In physics, the multiverse refers to parallel universes – alternate realities where things unfold differently,” Young explained. “Research is a garden of forking paths: Every study involves dozens of decisions, such as how to define variables, which controls to use, what statistical model to run. Statistical theory provides only rough guidance, and reasonable researchers could make different choices.” Young describes how studies that describe one, polished analysis create a gap in information between researchers and readers. “Our goal is to use computational power to inform the reader, not just the analyst,” Young said, emphasizing that multiverse analysis can help readers understand how researcher choices impact results. This story was covered by the Cornell Chronicle.

Tressie McMillan Cottom (Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science) appeared on The Opinions–a New York Times podcast–discussing the role of masculinity and messages about gender in the Trump administration. Following Trump blaming a recent plane crash on D.E.I. initiatives, Cottom commented: “I actually think that D.E.I. in that context, while it sort of primed some racial energies, it was really doing its most effective work as a broad dismissal of women. I think one of the reasons that works is because we worked really hard — especially in the last like 15 years — to develop and deepen the repertoire that Americans have to talk about race and racism. I will be honest with you, I’m not sure that we did as good a job of developing that capacity when it came to gender.” Cottom also commented on how strongman politics works “by giving people a scapegoat, giving men a scapegoat — is that it says not only are women the enemy, are people of color and minorities the enemy, but the government is protecting them.” Strongman politics thus facilitate delegitimization of the government.

Yolande Strengers (Digital Sociologists and Professor of Human Centered Computing at Monash University) appeared on Switched On Australia to discuss the energy industries flawed assumptions of consumer behavior and her work on the Digital Energy Futures project. Strengers commented that the energy industry expects consumers to act like ‘mini-economists’ or ‘mini-engineers,’ thinking of their households as a market. However, Strengers examines daily household practices and motivations, finding that consumers often think of energy as a means of comfort and entertainment, or a way to care for others.

The Credits interviewed Brazilian sociologist Ana Paula Sousa (Film Professor at the Higher School of Advertising and Marketing in São Paulo) about I’m Still Here, a film about a family living during the period of military dictatorship in 1970s Brazil. Sousa commented that the film “exposed the roots of our violence – social, institutional and physical. For a long time, we have been shrouded in the haze of the idea that we’re a country of parties, of joy, of the “way things are” and fed by the illusion that we’re the “country of the future.” I’m Still Here shows that perhaps we are still the “country of the past,” in the sense that we need to deal with our old problems, including torture and slavery.”

Bonnie Zare (Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech) spoke to the Irish Star about the cultural relevance of The Substance, a modern body horror film. “I feel the movie is able to capture this feeling that we’re constantly under scrutiny, that we’re constantly trying to do the impossible, which is get rid of our imperfections, and this sort of self loathing that would accompany that that we’re not talking about,” Zare said. She described the film as a great teaching example of “how we can start to question the norms around us and the policing and disciplining of our bodies, hair and faces.”

Matthew Desmond (Professor of Sociology at Princeton University) appeared on The Daily Show, discussing American poverty and ways to address it and build worker power in the U.S. economy. “I think a lot of us do benefit from poverty in ways we don’t realize,” Desmond commented. “We soak the poor in the labor market or the housing market. We continue to have a government that gives the most to families that need it the least, by subsiding affluence instead of fighting poverty. We continue to live in segregated lives. A lot of us are connected to that problem, but it also means we’re connected to the solution.”

Singapore Management University ran a story on EurekaAlert! featuring Jacqueline Ho’s (Assistant Professor of Social Science at Singapore Management University) work on parents’ perceptions of inequalities in the Singaporean education system. Ho explained: “I find that what the ‘Every School a Good School’ rhetoric is doing is, not so much convincing parents that every school is worthy in its own way, but more that it’s comforting to parents who can’t compete. It’s helping parents to exit the competition with more peace of mind, and less sense of guilt about whether they’re making the right choice for their kid.”

On a recent episode of Normal Gossip, Kelsey McKinney (Author and Journalist) discusses her new book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, and how she thinks about the functions of gossip. “I was reading a lot of studies by sociologists, and one thing that they talk about a lot is that we use gossip as a tool not only to understand our society, but to understand ourselves,” McKinney said. “So it’s like when I’m talking to you about something I might surprise myself by, like, and instinct that I have or someone I think is a villain in your story and realize, “Oh, this is a like, underlying bias that I have in my life.””

Renowned British scholar Michael Burawoy passed away at age 77 after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver. An influential Marxist scholar, Burawoy was known for his seminal book Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism and advocacy for public sociology. Raka Ray (Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California-Berkeley) expressed the weight of this loss: “Michael dedicated 47 years of his life to Berkeley, contributing immeasurably to the discipline, transforming the fields of labor, ethnography and theory,” Ray said. “His greatest legacy, though, went far beyond the many books and articles he published or prestigious awards he received — it was in the people whose lives he changed. He was an extraordinary teacher who mentored and inspired thousands of students, changing their lives with his fierce intellect and kindness.” Geoffrey Pleyers (Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of Louvain and President of the International Sociological Association) commented: “He left us at a time we most needed his leadership, his energy, his tireless work to understand our world, his example as an extraordinary teacher, his faith in a relevant public sociology, his openness to a global dialogue, his energy against injustice.” This story was covered by The Oaklandside.

The New York Times ran an article on the rebuilding of the Palisades after the recent California wildfires. Max Besbris (Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) commented that “recovery in the Palisades is going to be this really fast, big buildup back toward really valuable, very expensive properties.” Besbris noted that residents of the area–with high economic and political power–will be “able to dictate the terms of their own recovery.”

This week, multiple sociologists offered reflections on the state of the U.S. under the new Trump administration:

• “Righteous indignation is known to fuel protest and set in motion the machinery and infrastructure of rebellion. Evidence suggests that Trump will continue to poke this bear of discontent because it is his nature and his agenda. But will this administrative stance summon a day of reckoning for the President and his followers?,” Aldon Morris (Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University) commented to Northwestern Now. “In this historic moment, time and the arrival of warm weather will tell.”
• “The biggest problem we have is that we’re afraid of change,” said Harry Edwards (Professor Emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley) on CBS News. “To the extent that we don’t face up to that challenge, there are some very, very, very dark days ahead. Because I am not convinced that we have the best and the brightest people making critical decisions, top to bottom in American society. At some point, things could very well be stressed and bent to the breaking point.”

Over 300 young, homeless migrants are camping in the Gaîté Lyrique theater in Paris, demanding governmental aid. In France, migrants recognized as unaccompanied minors are eligible for housing and other benefits, but the city government is arguing that it has no shelter available and questioning the ages of the migrants. “This is a huge issue in Europe,” Ulrike Bialas (Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany) commented. Bialas stated that there are “vast numbers” of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to Europe and “many of them — in fact, in Germany, more than half of them — don’t have documents with them to prove their identity, and in particular, their date of birth.” This story was covered by The New York Times.

George Kassar (Instructor and Research Associate at Ascencia Business School) wrote an article for The Conversation on online performance reviews and “Netiquette” (Internet etiquette or digital norms of polite behavior). The article applies the late German sociologist Norbert Elias’ theories on the “civilizing process” to the digital age. Elias argued that “societal norms become more regulated and refined over time.” Kassar describes how Netiquette maps onto Elias’ theory and helps “ensure positive and constructive experiences.”